Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2012 00:42:40 +0000 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: The Big Time Chapter 4 Welcome back to "The Big Time". The two story lines in this chapter both look at Eric, the pitcher. You will see him as a 16 year old, full of angst and self-doubt and compare him to the 11 year old, who is cool and calm as he finds himself in a tough situation on the baseball field. One theme of the story will be about what happened over the five years to change Eric from the confident leader to the teen who wonders if he is good enough to handle the situation he is in. The story contains sex between minors. Be 18. Be safe. Please contribute to Nifty to keep this great source of stories going. Email me at thehakaanen@hotmail.com I know that not all of you are baseball fans or followers of baseball. I throw in a lot of baseball terms, some of which are explained and some of which are not. Below is a link to a basic glossary of baseball terms, which may help you along the way. If you ever have any questions about what is happening on the baseball field, feel free to email me for an explanation. I have striven to make the baseball scenes in the story as accurate and true-to-life as possible. http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/beginners/glossary.html State Tournament Roster Vince: Sr-Catcher, first base Rich: Sr.-Shortstop, third base Rodney: Sr-Pitcher, first base, third base Marty: Sr-Third base, second base Jerome: Sr-Pitcher, outfield Eric: Jr-Second base, pitcher Scott: Jr-First base, pitcher, outfield Danny: Jr-Second base, shortstop, third base Kraig: Jr-Outfield, pitcher Kevin: Jr-Catcher, outfield Hunter: Jr-First base, outfield, pitcher Lars: Jr.-Outfield, first base, pitcher Noah: Jr.-Second base, shortstop Connor: Sr-Catcher, first base, third base, outfield Justin: Soph-Infield Gavin, a junior and an outfielder with the team but broke his arm diving for a fly ball in one of the last league games. Carl, another junior, who tore up his knee, suffering a torn meniscus, in the District Tournament.. He also rode with the team to State. Justin is his replacement. CHAPTER 4 EXPANSION I sat by myself on the team bus. There was nothing unusual about that---the starting pitcher almsot always sat by himself on the bus on the way to a game. It was a Mustang tradition. I closed my eyes and thought about what Coach Sanders had discussed at the team meeting yesterday about the Jackrabbit hitters. An old friend and teammate of Coach Sanders lived in the eastern part of the state and did some scouting for us at their District Tournament. Sometimes I wondered if it was possible to know too much about the hitters; if maybe all of that knowledge had me thinking too much before I threw. I had my moments when I wanted Kevin to be the one who knew everything and he could tell me what to throw. But I knew that when I had knowledge of the hitter there were times I was able to use that knowledge for an out. And sometimes it didn't do me any good at all, so who knows what is right. When we got to Gesa Stadium, a couple of tournament officials met our team as we got off of the bus. One of them escorted us to the third base side clubhouse while the other took Coach Sanders and Marty to the press box for the coin flip. We knew that Marty, because he was the team captain, would be going to the coin flip with Coach when we got there. At breakfast he asked for our vote on what to call. "Tails never fails," Scott told him. That had been his mantra to me the times I'd been team captain and had to call a flip. He was wrong, of course, it did fail at times, and eventually I got to where I would even call heads just to spite him. But for today I agreed with him. We were the only two who voted for tails. The rest of the team wanted heads and that was the instruction Marty took with him to the press box. We had the home clubhouse. The Dust Devils hadn't started their season yet so the lockers were empty. We only got half of them, since one of the teams out on the field had the other half. We put on our cleats and stored our gear. I was impressed by how nice the clubhouse of a pro team was, even at the Rookie League level. Marty and Coach Sanders came into the locker room. From the smile on Marty's face he didn't need to tell us how the coin flip came out. "Tails failed," he said. "It was heads and we got the hammer." "Tails didn't fail," Scott said. "Tails just ended up flipping to the bottom so that heads came out on top. So tails come through for us." "You're so full of shit, Scott." Marty gave him a friendly punch on the arm. It seemed like everybody on the team was loose except for me. Coach Sanders and the tournament official led us out to the field where we took a seat in an area of the stands set aside for us. The game ahead of us had started at nine and was in top of the fourth inning. The two teams were from a different classification. There were two classifications playing in Pasco, Class B and Class A, both consisting of smaller schools, and the game times were staggered. We were a Class B school. Our game was at noon and was followed by a three o'clock game and a six o'clock game. The home team was ahead 5-1 and it looked like they were on their way to a win. After the fourth inning ended we were led to a marked space outside of the stadium where we could get stretched out and warm up our arms. The tournament official would tell us when the game was close to over so we could get to the dugout. Korey and Chandler would be helping get all of our gear into the dugout, along with two eighth graders who played on the middle school team and came over with their parents. After the first game ended we came back into the stadium. Since we were the home team we took infield first. Each team had only ten minutes for infield, so we took our short form practice. We had three different infields we could do depending on the amount of time we had. While the team was taking infield, Kevin and I were doing my own warm-ups in the bullpen area. Coach Sanders liked to have the starting catcher warm up the starting pitcher and for the backup catcher do infield. Vince, a senior, was doing the infield honors today. Vince had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he was a football player playing baseball. He liked playing baseball and played it hard, but everybody knew that Kevin was by far the better catcher. He was quicker, blocked balls better, had a stronger arm, knew how to handle pitchers better, and had more baseball smarts. Vince played baseball while Kevin lived it. Just before we started my warm-up we saw Carl on the walkway above the bullpen. He gave us a wave. "Kick ass, guys," he told us. Carl was a junior and probably the best hitter at Mayfield High and a decent catcher. Not in Kevin's class, but still pretty good. He'd worked hard to become a decent catcher. He'd been cut in sixth grade because he was fat, slow, and mostly because he was lazy. Danny became friends with him and changed his whole attitude. Carl had worked his ass off since then and was now a big kid, and certainly not fat. He had a solid build now and had shown there had been a good athlete hidden underneath that blubber. He had been an All-League defensive lineman last fall. The reason Carl wasn't playing is he tore his meniscus sliding into home in the District Tournament. He would be up in the press box keeping our scorebook. He was still on crutches and would be having arthroscopic surgery as soon as school was out. Gavin, another junior, broke his arm diving after a fly ball in one of our last league games. He didn't play a lot of varsity and might not have even suited up for State since there is a 15 player limit. "I wish you were down here with us," Kevin said. "I'll be there next year," he said, and we knew he meant it with all of his heart. Carl and Gavin ate breakfast with us this morning and I know they enjoyed every bite and appreciated being invited to eat with the team. We will miss Carl's big heart as well as his big bat at the plate. Coach Kennedy, who was the freshman coach, supervised my warm- ups. Coach Ecklund, the varsity middle school coach was hitting infield. Coach Sanders and his JV coach, Coach Anderson, were giving instructions and encouragement. After our infield ended I went from casual warming up to getting up to game speed. The Jackrabbits were taking their infield so it wouldn't be long before the introductions started. I tried to act cool and calm, but what I wanted to do was throw the ball a hundred miles per hour right through Kevin's glove. I could tell I was too amped up. Finally I grabbed my jacket, which I didn't really need in the near 80 degree weather, and Kevin, Coach Kennedy, and I headed to the dugout. The Jackrabbits were introduced first and then it was our turn. The two field coaches were introduced, followed by the bench players. I had my jacket draped over my right shoulder as my teammates lined up on the third base foul line after hearing their name. I tried hard to focus my spinning mind, but all that would go through was my being told I was too serious, that I was putting my pride ahead of the team, that I was a soft-tossing junior who didn't have a prayer of winning. I knew all of that wasn't true, and normally I could focus my thoughts on what I needed to do in the game and throw all of the negative stuff out of my mind. Today wasn't one of those times. Our starting line-up was now being announced. Jerome was leading off and playing center. He was a big black senior who had been the star running back on our football team, which missed going to state by a field goal. He had been All-League and All-District in football. Noah would bat second and play second. Normally I batted second, but Coach liked me batting lower in the order when I pitched. Batting third was Rich, a senior and our shortstop. Marty was batting fourth and playing third. Scott was next. He was starting at first. Then came Vince, who was the DH. He would be batting for Kraig, who would be starting in right. Vince was good, but Carl would have been the DH if he hadn't gotten injured. Kraig would have been just as good at the plate as Vince, but having a DH gave Coach a chance to play one more player in the State Tournament. Kevin was hitting seventh and I was eighth. Hunter was hitting in the nine hole and playing left. Coach Sanders didn't always use a DH, but he'd been using one the entire postseason either to give us the best possible offense or to have one more player participate in the game. As the National Anthem was played over the PA I wondered if my thumping heart could be heard over the blare of the band. I was so nervous I almost wanted to puke. I was truly happy we were the home team so I could pitch right away and not have to sit around in the dugout for half an inning. Without even remembering how it happened I found myself on the pitcher's mound with the game ball in my hand, my eight warm-ups over, the leadoff batter for the Jackrabbits standing at the plate. I was about to throw the first Mayfield Mustang state tournament pitch in thirteen years and I wondered how I was going to be able to do it with my knees shaking almost out of control. ++++++++++ Eric was brought in to relieve for Lars in the fifth inning. They were playing the Reston Harbor team, a group the Eagles select team didn't like much. While they were comprised mostly of players from the team they had played for the Middle School championship, that wasn't what bothered them. What bothered them was the group leaving the Centralia organization after the teams were picked and forming their own organization and team. That meant the Centralia teams having to be reorganized. While the boys mostly saw the negatives to that, they glossed over the positives. Because of the change Lars ended up on their team and became their friend, and there was a spot that opened for Kraig. None of this was going through Eric's head when he stepped on the mound. What was going through his head was the situation. He had started the game at second base, his usual position. Lars had been the starting pitcher. He was a good pitcher, but for whatever reason his lean, lanky frame seemed to wear down as the game went on. As he got tired his pitches started to come up in the strike zone as he failed to keep his body tight and opened up his hips, and pitches that were up in the zone were easier to hit. Sometimes his pitches were up out of the zone and he started falling behind hitters or walking them. Eric was a swing pitcher, sometimes he started, sometimes he relieved. He didn't care what he did, he just loved to play baseball and would play anywhere at any time. The talk on the team was that Lars, because of his lack of stamina, might become a swing pitcher with Eric starting more games. But right now he was on the mound and the bases were loaded with no outs after Lars gave up a single to left and then walked two batters. Eric's team, the Eagles, had a 6-2 lead, so there was some leeway as far as allowing a run or two to score. Eric knew that his job was to limit the damage; to get out of the inning with no more than those one or two runs scoring. He had every bit of confidence that he could do that. The tough situation didn't bother him; the 11 year old loved tough situations. On a 1-1 pitch Eric got the first batter he faced to fly out to Kraig in right field, who ran a dozen steps to his left to make the catch. Like his twin brother, Kraig was blessed with a great arm. He turned and faced the field looking for his relay man as the runner on second went back to tag the base. The second baseman was supposed to be out for the relay, but he was standing at second. Kraig let it fly anyway, hoping that it would be picked up by somebody in the infield. When Eric saw that the runner on second had left the base he thought for a moment there might be a double play, but the third base coach yelled at the runner to turn around and he was able to scramble back. The runner saw Kraig running away from the field to make the catch, so he tagged and headed for third. Eric knew that Kraig had a strong, accurate arm and could almost envision the relay play from right field to third base in his mind. Instead he was surprised when the throw came in to nobody and died in the infield with Lars, who was now at shortstop, running it down. The runner advanced to third standing up. Eric saw the second baseman standing behind second base instead of in his relay position. While the Eagles practiced relays and cutoffs they didn't practice as often or with the intensity that the Titans had. Eric knew that Coach Sanders would quietly be all over the second baseman after the inning was over. Coach Flynn would probably make a comment, but it wouldn't go any farther---like laps for example. He could see why the Titans had been a better team than Evans Middle School just from that play alone. This was just one more reason why Eric wanted an all-Mayfield select team next summer. He shook off his teammate's mental error, knowing he had to make up for it on the mound. The score was now 6-3. He struck out the next batter, swinging, and then got the next hitter to pop-up to second. This time the second baseman did his job and they had gotten out of the inning with minimal damage. That ended up being the final score. They had a quick post-game team meeting. Coach Flynn said nothing about not being in position for the relay play, which irked Eric and the other Mayfield boys. They took pride in their baseball fundamentals. Eric made a mental note that the Go to State Team had to find a really good coach for next year's team. After the meeting Lars got into his family's car with Kevin. Eric smiled knowing that Kevin was spending the night with Lars. The two of them were becoming good friends quickly. It really was too bad Lars didn't live in Mayfield. Eric and Scott rode home with Eric's parents along with Scott's mother. The two boys sat in the back. Eric touched Scott's hand, looking to hold it. Scott jerked it away at first, looked at his mother's back, and then brought it back and held Eric's hand. Eric felt warm and loved. He looked over at Scott and gave him his winning smile. Scott's initial pulling back barely registered with him. Noah, Hunter, and Eric were at the Burger Barn a half hour before they had scheduled their meeting with the eighth graders. They had spent the morning at Eric's house putting together the by-laws. It was actually easier than it sounded since Seth had given them examples and ideas for them to follow. The three of them ordered an extra large order of fries and drinks and went into the back room. On Monday Eric had reserved the room for an hour. Bob, the owner, was skeptical of reserving the room for a group of unsupervised kids, but after Eric and Noah explained what it was all about, Bob was all for it. He was a big supporter of Mayfield sports and was pleased to see the young boys concerned about the declining state of baseball in the town. Eric made a mental note to think about Bob when they started looking for sponsors. About fifteen minutes later Rich and Marty showed up. Both Noah and Eric wondered just how close Rich and Marty had become. They knew that the two of them spent a lot of nights at each other's house and their sex filled 11 year old minds figured the two of them did stuff together in bed, especially since they knew how sexual Marty was. A few minutes later Vince, Rodney, and Jerome came into the Barn. They put in their order and joined the other boys in the back. The only other boy to show was Conner, who was one of many seventh graders (now eighth graders) who had played on the varsity, but was the only one from the varsity who seemed interested enough to show up for the meeting. The seventh graders on the varsity (now incoming eighth graders) were supposedly the best players and Eric and Noah were both disappointed in the turnout. But like Noah had said, a lot of eighth graders were not about to take part in something that was the idea of a group of seventh graders. Two other factors were the fact that the varsity had a losing record that spring and many of the seventh graders who played on the varsity were not playing on a select team. "So, what is this all about?" Marty asked. "I mean I've heard talk but I want to hear all the details." Eric explained his idea of starting now to build towards winning back- to-back state tournaments. "Hell, just going to state sounds like a huge thing to me," Marty said. "Baseball in this town sucks more and more every year. And if you want more of us eighth graders to help out, good luck. They are all into football except us. There ain't enough of us to start building a great baseball team with." "We have enough if we all start to work now. Put you guys and us together, then when you guys are seniors we'll be really good," Eric said. He could see that this was going to be a tough sell, but it was what he had expected. "We think if we work hard at it we'll be good enough," Noah said. "Have you talked to the coaches yet?" Rich asked. "Not yet. We wanted to talk to you guys first and see if you want to join us." "That was really nice of you to include us," Connor said with a touch of sarcasm. Connor didn't know Eric and his group as well as the former JV players did. Eric ignored him. "We want to be totally organized before we talk to anybody. We have our advisor. We're going to elect officers on Thursday and vote for our by-laws. Then we're going to find a sponsor and then talk to the coaches and see what they think. We're kind of hoping you guys will do the same thing. Like maybe you can get the other eighth graders and all do what we're doing for your grade." Eric was met with an uncomfortable silence that was finally broken by Marty, who seemed to be taking over as spokesman for the eighth graders. "Okay, here's what I think. First, as long as Coach Collins is the head coach at the high school you won't get anywhere." "But he won a state championship and like four league championships," Noah said. "Yeah, and the last few years he ain't done shit. Most of us weren't born when he won that state championship and he's been to state once since then. His idea of a good time is to sit in his recliner and jerk off while he admires his fucking trophy. Everybody knows guys on the team get away with drinking and partying all the time. Not that I'd be complaining, but it's not the way you're gonna win. Even a dummy like me can figure that out." It was no secret that Marty liked his beer and was a heavy drinker, especially for a 13 year old. But except for one private incident he hadn't touched alcohol for close to two months. "We'll convince him that we're serious and get him serious, too." "I don't think so," Connor said. "My brother played for him and said he just puts in his time. He thinks his shit don't stink because he used to win the league championship every year. Everybody knows baseball is going downhill in this town because the coaches at the high school don't work hard to win. But everybody still seems to think they're like gods or something." "We'll get the middle school coaches to help us," Eric said. "Look, I think they're pretty good coaches," Marty said. That comment surprised the group because they knew how pissed he had been when he was placed on the JV team instead of the varsity. "But what can they do at the middle school when we go to high school? Not much." "We still have to try," Eric said. "And there's one other thing," Marty went on. "Maybe we don't want to do all that work. A lot of us sure don't seem to want to. I don't see them here." "So you're not going to go in with us?" Hunter asked, speaking up for the first time. "I didn't say that. Me and Rich talked this over last night." Marty didn't bother to add they talked after he had given Rich a hard fucking on his bed. "We want to be a total part of this, at least me and Rich do. We want to be a part of your group---making it seventh and eighth graders together." "That's fine during the school season, but it won't work when summer comes. We still have to be on different teams." "No we don't," Rich said. "The teams we're on are by grade. But if we get into the Capital League up north those teams are by age. We get into a 14 and under league we all play together." Eric liked what he was hearing. It was something he and Noah had never thought of. They looked at their group being all seventh graders. At the same time he suddenly was worried that the eighth graders might want to take the group over. "A lot of us would be pretty young for that league. We wouldn't be any good." Hunter said. Marty started to talk, but Eric cut him off. "No. Listen up. If we're going to go back-to-back in high school we'd have to win when a lot of us are juniors... a year too young. So maybe next summer we'd better start learning to compete with the bigger kids." "That's exactly what I was gonna say," Marty said. "But we want to be part of running the group, whatever it is." "The Go to State Group," Noah said. "Whatever. We don't want to be in the background." "I've already been elected the chairman," Eric said. "For how long?" "One year." "Okay. You gonna have other officers and stuff?" "Yeah. We elect them on Thursday. We're meeting at Noah's house for lunch." Eric thought that sounded very businesslike---the group doing lunch. "We don't want to take things over," Vinnie said. "But this is all going to work better if we do it together as one group. I mean we're going to do this as one team, right?" "If you want to take part come to the meeting. It's at twelve. If you can get anybody else to come, that would be awesome," Eric said. The boys talked a little more about the plans. Eric could tell that the eighth graders were getting excited about the idea. He was too, but he knew the seventh graders would have to work hard to make sure the eighth graders didn't take charge of everything. They finished the meeting and left the Burger Barn. Most of them had arrived by bicycle and they hopped on their bikes and went their own ways. Eric had two things to look forward to, his game on Wednesday and the meeting on Thursday. There were also things to worry about. Marty had been right about the high school coaches, but he didn't know what to do about that. And Marty and Connor had both been pretty assertive and he wasn't quite sure what to do about that. The Eagles had a game at home, which was in Centralia in their case. Centralia was over almost a forty-five minute drive from Mayfield. The distance was one more reason Eric and his teammates wanted their summer team to be an all Mayfield team next summer. Of course the Mayfield boys had to find out how Kevin's two night visit with Lars went. Kevin's answer was two words: "Game face!" They knew they would have to wait until after the game for any answers. The game turned out to be a relatively easy one as Scott threw a complete game five-hit shutout and the Eagles won 6-0. After the game the Mayfield boys surrounded Kevin and Lars. "Oh, we don't kiss and tell," Kevin said mischievously. "You know that's a lie," his twin brother Kraig said. "You know you want to tell us." "Only if Lars approves." Lars blushed, but nodded his head yes. "Okay, if you insist. Lars is no longer a virgin as a top." Everybody grinned and Lars blushed a little deeper. "But Kevin didn't go up my butt," Lars said a little defensively. "Lars still needs to get over some things," Kevin said. "But he sure can give a good BJ now. He'll get it all." "I told Kevin maybe the next time he stays the night I'll do it." "Which will be real soon," Kevin said. Kevin and Lars were falling for each other and neither one of them was battling his feelings. Lars just needed to get over a natural nervousness about being a bottom, but he wasn't far from that. "Oh, and he banged me hard and deep," Kevin added. "Real hard." Lars grinned with a measure of pride. He was enjoying everything he was learning about sex. Occasional circle jerks with his Evans Middle School friends would seem very tame from now on. But the sex talk had given Lars a quick hard-on and he put his hand in his pocket in an attempt to hide it. Lars thought back to Monday night in his bed when Kevin asked him if he wanted to fuck. Lars knew the question was going to come, but he was still nervous about it. Kevin told him it was totally up to him and he could be he top the first time. The two boys made out, kissing and feeling each other up and licking various body parts. Kevin had brought some lube, certain he would need it. He was not disappointed and he ended up quite surprised by the staying power of Lars. Lars was amazed at how good a hot tight ass felt as it surrounded his hard 12 year old cock. He knew he loved sex more and more. Tuesday night had been one of mutual blow jobs, sixty-nines, lots of kissing, and three cums apiece. The two 12 year olds didn't know it, but they were falling in love with each other. The Mayfield boys all went home with their parents. The only boys on the Eagles to sleep with each other were the twins Kevin and Kraig. Kevin told his twin brother all the details of his two nights with Lars. Kraig was turned on by it, but he also felt a bit jealous. Why was it, he wondered, that Kevin always seemed to score with the hot boys while he ended up with somebody like Hunter? He liked Hunter a lot as a friend, but he never knew where Hunter was coming from where sex was concerned. Kraig was more determined than ever to have a boyfriend other than his twin brother, who obviously was branching out beyond their brotherly love. Eric had done his homework. He had met with Seth, Noah's father, Wednesday afternoon to go over what he, Noah, and Hunter had put together for their by-laws. "I'm impressed, Eric," Seth said. "You did a great job on this. Very complete." "I had a lot of help from you and I appreciate it, sir," Eric replied. Seth was pretty open and loose with his own kids and was certainly not one to expect kids to call him "sir". But he didn't discourage Eric's businesslike politeness. He found it engaging in the young boy and he knew it would work in his favor as his Go to State group got serious about meeting with the businessmen and community leaders who could help them meet their goals. "I'm honored to have been picked by you kids to be your advisor. So far I've seen a lot of hard work being done and I think it will pay off." Eric told Seth about the eighth graders becoming involved. "Just remember that no matter how you do it your two classes will have to work together." Eric told him he understood. Seth told Eric he was impressed with his organization and work ethic. He told him that it was too late for the seventh grade, but the next year he might want to consider running for a student body office. Eric modestly said he would think about it, but inside he glowed with the praise and the idea appealed to him. He didn't do it this spring because he was still pretty new to Mayfield. But he had been the sixth grade president at his old school before moving. Seth told Eric that Noah was out back swimming. Eric stepped outside and saw Noah and his four siblings in the pool. They were skinny dipping which meant, of course, that Lisa was naked. The kids didn't have a problem convincing their dad that skinny dipping was okay, but they had to work on their mom a little harder. They told her that they'd seen each other naked a lot through the years and that they'd all slept in the same room and seen each other naked during the Memorial Day trip to eastern Washington, at least all of them except Glenn, the oldest, who was away at college that weekend. She finally relented and went along with her husband that the kids could skinny dip. The kids noticed she would always come out against nudity, like it was her duty to do that, but she almost always gave in, like it was all inevitable. The only rule was they only did it when nobody was visiting except for certain invited friends. "Want to come in and join us?" Noah asked. Lisa pulled herself on to the deck and sat with her legs dangling into the water, being sure Eric could see her fully nude, and Eric most certainly looked. He might consider himself to be gay, but he was still an 11 year old boy who was full of sexual curiosity and seeing a naked 13 year old girl in front of him wasn't something that happened every day. Eric was on the list of friends who could swim naked with Noah and his siblings. "I can't. I have to get home and get something to eat and get ready to go to my game tonight." "Maybe next time," Noah said. "Yeah." Eric wished it was this time as his dick was responding to the naked kids in the pool. He was very curious as to what Glenn, who was 19, looked like naked, even more so than being around Lisa. On Thursday all of the eighth graders who had met at the Burger Barn showed up at Noah's. Noah, Eric, and Hunter, who had all been at the Barn, were joined by Bobby, Danny, Carl, and Gavin. Gavin was one of the better athletes in the seventh grade but he didn't turn out for baseball with the Titans. He played on the same recreation team as Carl and Danny and they convinced Gavin to join them at the meeting. The boys all sat in the family room. The weather had turned to cool and drizzly overnight or they would have sat out on the back deck. Eric, who had been studying up on Robert's Rules of Order called the meeting to order. The first order of the meeting was to approve the by-laws. Most of the boys there didn't understand the idea of by-laws and didn't really care much about them. Connor, Danny, and Carl all thought that Eric was making everything too formal, forgetting that when they started going to meet with adults and ask for money the adults would want to see more than just a loosely organized gang of kids before they would be willing to open up their wallets. The group unanimously voted to accept the by-laws that Eric had read to them, trusting that Eric had done the right thing. The next order of business was the election of officers. Eric had already been elected the chair. Connor protested that Eric had been elected before the eighth graders had been invited into the group and that there should be a new election. Not only did the seventh graders shoot down the idea, so did Connor's fellow eighth graders. "Look, I know he's a seventh grader." Marty said. "But he's the one who put the work into this and I'll tell you what, if we had an election right now I'd vote for him. I think when we meet like this we gotta forget about our grades and think about us all being on the same team. If you don't like it, run against him in a year." Not only Eric, but all of the boys in the group were impressed with Marty's sudden show of maturity. They had all seen Marty as the party goer, the beer drinker, the horn dog who jerked off in the locker room showers and on the team bus, not to mention in class, the boy who reveled in being thought of as just a bit crazy. But ever since he started hanging around with Rich he had changed a lot. Being awarded the rarely given out Coach's Award at the end of the Titan season highlighted the changes that everybody saw in him. Connor's rebellion was quickly squelched and the elections were held. Rodney, an eighth grader, was elected secretary, Noah was elected treasurer, and Marty was elected co-chair and would be Eric's right hand man. Those four comprised the executive committee and just happened to come out equally split between seventh graders and eighth graders. They then discussed the three other important items of business. Who they could talk to about being their sponsor or sponsors and how they would go about presenting their plans to the school coaches. They knew they were a long way from finding a coach for their team and tabled any discussion on that. Eric appointed a committee to meet with Seth and discuss possible sponsors. He named Danny, Connor, Kraig, and Jerome to be on that committee, with Marty as the committee chair. They decided to table, or put off, how they would deal with the school coaches until their next meeting. "Since we're just starting we're going to have to meet a lot," Eric said. They decided to have their next meeting in two weeks and to meet again at Noah's house, which had lots of room, not to mention the pool out back. "If the weather's good, bring your swimming suits if you can stay after," Noah said. That sounded like a great idea to everybody. As the players started to leave, Marty walked over to Noah. "I know you had a party last weekend and I know it was all about the sixth graders on the team. You maybe could have included us guys who were seventh graders on the Titans, but it's cool you didn't." Noah wondered where Marty's little diatribe was heading. "I think it would be a great idea of you had an overnight party for all of us who are in the Go to State group. You know, like kind of a bonding thing." Noah smiled and told Marty he thought it was a great idea and he would work to set it up before the summer was over. Marty nodded his appreciation and took off to join Rich. Noah stopped Eric and Scott as they headed out. "You guys want to spend the night tonight?" "With you and Bobby?" Eric asked. He quickly imagined what it would be like with just the four of them together, all of them saying they were gay boys. "Bobby is on restriction until Monday. He has to spend the night at home." "Why? What did he do?" Eric knew that Bobby's home life was pretty dysfunctional and chaotic. "He called Lenny a fucking asshole," Noah said. "From what I've heard that wouldn't be the first time." "He called him that in public at our game on Tuesday." That explained why Bobby wasn't hanging at the pool with Noah and his siblings. "So, I guess you saw it happen." "Yeah. Lenny was getting on the kids on the other team and Bobby went over to him and told him to shut up." Lenny was the boyfriend of Bobby's mother. Bobby hated him, especially since Lenny had been getting feels of Bobby's privates since Bobby was little. It had never gone beyond gropes, but that was in part due to Bobby's 15 year old brother, Tyler, watching out for him and taking the brunt of Lenny's perversion. "So Lenny tells him to mind his own business and to play baseball," Noah went on. "He said he could say whatever he wanted. Now this was all pretty much between them at the backstop, but we all knew what was being said. Lenny said something we couldn't hear and then all of a sudden Bobby called Lenny a fucking asshole and he wasn't being quiet about it." "I guess it's okay to be truthful in private, but not in public," Eric said. "I dunno, but it was pretty ugly. The only reason Bobby could come to the meeting was because my mom said she'd take him home as soon as it was over." "I feel sorry for him," Scott said. "We all called him trailer trash in school. Then he turns out for baseball and we find out he's really pretty cool. He has to put up with a lot of shit." Not to mention he's pretty cute, Eric thought. He found Noah's red- headed friend to be cute and sexy as well as a sweet person. "I keep thinking I should tell my mom and dad about the things he has to put up with at home. Lenny molesting him, and Lenny's brother Duke being there and getting all into sex. And then all the booze and drugs there. It's just not right. But he won't let me because he doesn't want to get his mother into any kind of trouble. I don't know what the right thing to do is," Noah said. Noah didn't mention the incident in the spring where he'd also been molested by Lenny and Duke. That was kept private between him and Bobby. "I'd fucking rat them out," Scott said. "But then that's me." "Anyway, can you guys spend the night?" "I know I can't," Scott said. "I have a stupid dentist appointment in the morning at nine. I mean nine during summer vacation, which totally sucks. But mom says it works for her and I guess that's what counts." "Is Doctor Benson your dentist?" Noah asked. "Yeah, he's just about everybody's." Dr. Benson, who was Carl's father was the only dentist in Mayfield. If somebody wanted another dentist they'd either have to go to Centralia or to Kentburg. "You could just walk there and go any time." "I know, but it's the whole `The parent has to be there when you're there' thing." "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." Eric was surprised to hear Noah admit he'd forgotten an important fact---Noah never forgot about anything. "I'll call my mom and see if I can stay," Eric said. His mom was at work so he had to leave a voice mail. He texted her after that since she would often check her texts at work and get back to him. Scott said he wasn't going to hang around, but before he left he called Eric over for a private chat. "Look, dude, I know you and Noah are gonna mess around and you know that's all cool with me." "All except fucking is cool," Eric said. "Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You and Noah are pretty tight. I mean he's probably your best friend who is not your boyfriend." Scott gave Eric a grin when he said that. "Yeah, he might be." "Well, if you guys want to fuck...it's okay with me." Scott's unsolicited permission surprised Eric. "You're sure?" "I'm sure. Have fun." "I probably will have fun, but I doubt we'll fuck. I mean I'm pretty sure Noah has the same kind of deal with Bobby." "Whatever. Just tell me all about it next time we're in bed together." "I will." That hadn't happened since Sunday night. That stretch without sleeping with Scott was the longest they'd had on non-school nights. They'd jerked each other off once since Sunday, but they hadn't slept together. Scott left and Eric found himself looking forward to sleeping alone with Noah for the first time. The two of them really got along well and Scott was right; Noah was his best friend of all his friends who weren't his boyfriend. This could end up being a very cool and maybe sexy night, he thought. What none of the boys knew was that Thursday night and the upcoming weekend was going to set things in motion that would affect them, some of the other boys, and the Go to State group, not only in the near future but also in the distant future. Next: Finding the Zone